The first gold medals of World Orienteering Championships in Edinburgh went to Tove Alexandersson (SWE) and Martin Regborn (SWE) after the Sprint final on Friday afternoon.
The glorious sunny weather from the morning’s qualification had continued and combined with today’s arena in the central park, Princess Street Gardens, created a perfect setting for today’s race.
After a scenic start in the courtyard of the Old College the athletes were thrown into a series of short, tricky legs in the old city centre, before longer, and more route choice oriented legs took over on both courses.
And from the well-filled spectators’ stands in the park, the audience could follow the men’s competition to begin with.
Here, current World Cup leader Martin Regborn showed great strength as he won the men’s class with a 23 second margin to Tino Polsini (SUI). Their split times were head-to-head to begin with, but on the last kilometer of the course Regborn outran his Swiss opponent.
That’s Regborn’s first ever WOC-medal, and Polsinis silver came in the Swiss’s first ever WOC-race.
Emil Svensk was four seconds slower than Polsini and his bronze was his first individual WOC-medal.
Regborn and Svensk’s compatriot Gustav Bergman was just two seconds out of the medals, while Francesco Mariani (ITA) made his best senior result by finishing fifth and had Tim Robertson (NZL) behind him on the podium.
Reigning World Champion Kasper Fosser (NOR) was on his way to another medal with fast split times, when he made a mistake towards the end and dropped out of top 15.
There wasn’t much time to look at the spectacular Edinburgh Castle from the stands, before the women’s race began.
Here, the three main favorites divided the medals between them, as Tove Alexandersson claimed her 20th WOC gold medal 15 seconds ahead of Simona Aebersold (SUI) and with Natalia Gemperle (SUI) four seconds further behind.
Both the reigning World Champion Megan Carter Davies (GBR) and Denmark’s Malin Agervig Kristiansson set the fastest split times on the first half of the course, but had time losses in the southern loop. Carter Davies ended up in ninth position, while the Dane made her best senior result so far in fifth.
Aleksandra Hornik (POL) squeezed in to fourth place, while Great Britain’s local Scottish hero Grace Molloy received the perhaps biggest applause on the podium after her sixth place.
See results, GPS-tracking, photos and maps on IOF LIVE.
After a day of rest, the Sprint Relay awaits on Sunday. The start is at 12:40 BST (UTC +1) and the broadcast on IOF TV and Eurovision Sport with German, French and English commentary runs from 12:30 – 14:00.
Top 6 results
WOMEN
1. Tove Alexandersson, SWE 16:14 minutes
2. Simona Aebersold, SUI + 0:15 mins.
3. Natalia Gemperle, SUI + 0:19 mins.
4. Aleksandra Hornik, POL + 0:24 mins.
5. Malin Agervig Kristiansson, DEN + 0:42 mins.
6. Grace Molloy, GBR + 0:46 mins.
MEN
1. Martin Regborn, SWE 15:58 minutes
2. Tino Polsini, SUI + 0:23 mins.
3. Emil Svensk, SWE +0:27 mins.
4. Gustav Bergman, SWE +0:29 mins.
5. Francesco Mariani, ITA + 0:42 mins.
6. Tim Robertson, NZL + 0:43 mins.
Photos: Kristina Lindgren/IOF